Once upon a time, Carol Flake Chapman and I used to work together at The Boston Phoenix, where she was notable for being the Adrian Peterson of female arts editors during our semi-regular touch football games. Later, she wrote Redemptorama, a fine book that was one of the first deep spelunkings of what became the Christian Right.

Perry claims that he happened to be packing his pistol that morning because he was afraid of snakes, and that it came in handy when the coyote in question "laser-locked" its attention on his daughter's Labrador Retriever. He told the reporter that after "hollering" at the coyote and charging it, he proceeded to send it "where coyotes go" with just one laser-guided shot. Presumably that would be coyote never-never land. Laser-like focus is no match, apparently, for the right firearm accessory. But however many times I try to rerun this scenario in my head, it just doesn't make any sense, gun-wise or coyote-wise. And I'm not alone in that conclusion. There's something about this story that just doesn't smell right to folks who know something about guns, snakes, and coyotes.

Poor Governor Goodhair can't catch a break. Now it looks like he may end up behind Mitt Romney even in the crucial Varmint-Killing demographic.